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Tesla Model X Delayed Until 2015; Model E Name Will Change

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May 12, 2014

Between battery fires and issues with retail stores, Tesla has had anything but a smooth road with the rollout of the Tesla Model S, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that the electric automaker has a hit a couple of speed bumps while attempting to prepare for its next products. First, the Tesla Model X sport utility vehicle will suffer a slight delay in production, and now Fortune is reporting that its future entry-level car – formerly referred to as the Model E – is currently nameless.

The next-generation Tesla car will not be called the Model E due to a trademark issue with Ford Motor Company; but Simon Sproule, Tesla's new vice president of communications, was quoted as saying that "the matter has been resolved amicably." According to the report, Ford has submitted trademark applications for the Model E name several times since 2000 with the last time being in December 2013, which is apparently a few months after Tesla’s application for the same name. Whatever the new Tesla model is to be called, Tesla has plenty of time to come up with a new one since this future entry-level model likely won't arrive until late 2017.

In regards to the Model X, it was originally supposed to go on sale by the end of this year, but in the company’s recent earnings report, Tesla said that full production won't begin until the first or second quarter of 2015. Tesla will begin building pre-production, validation prototypes of the all-wheel-drive electric SUV by the end of this year, though.